[LON-CAPA-dev] httpd logfiles

[Gerd Kortemeyer]

I am doing solution #3 right now.

LCD font characters and numbers will go into

/adm/lonLCDfont

which does not require authentication. This means that anybody in the world can
download our wonderful LCD characters.

- Gerd.

Matthew Brian Hall wrote:

> Hello all -
>
> In looking at data.lite.msu.edu, I noticed the httpd logfiles are getting a
> bit monsterous (400M in total).
>
> This is due to the clock on the remote.  If someone (Guy) leaves themselves
> logged in to LON-CAPA and their cookie expires, it generates a couple errors.
> The errors occur on attempts to retrieve the digits for the clock.  There are
> roughly 1-6 requests per second.  Apache dutifully logs all of these errors
> in /var/log/httpd/error_log.  Similary, every attempt to access the digits
> results in a log entry in /var/log/httpd/access_log, which is a problem if
> clients have caching turned off on their browsers.
>
> Needless to say, the logs get pretty tedious after 12 hours of this.
> This isn't really a problem on development machines, but production
> machines need to avoid it.
>
> There are a few ways to deal with this -
>
> 1. Switch to an analog clock or sundial.
> 2. Reduce the logging.
> 3. Not require a cookie to get the digits on the clock (or any of the other
>     *.gif's on the remote).
>
> As much as I'd prefer #1, solutions #2 and #3 will probably have to be used.
>
> #2: To reduce the logging on a server, /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf needs
> editing.  The line
>
> CustomLog logs/access_log common
>
>     Needs to be replaced with
>
> SetEnvIf Request_URI /res/adm/pages nolog-request
> CustomLog logs/access_log common env=!nolog-request
>
> LON-CAPA doesn't seem to provide a httpd.conf.  This same method cannot be
> applied to the error logging.  There are options on the error logging, but
> excluding all errors is probably unwise.
>
> #3: Not require a cookie to get the digits on the clock.
>
> This will mean either excluding /res/adm/pages from the access handler or
> finding a new home for the files.  The former approach has been taken in
> the latest patch to loncapa_apache.conf.
>
> I thought I'd give you the heads up on this in case you want to change the
> httpd.conf on your favorite server(s) or if you have any other ideas.
>
> Matthew
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Matthew Hall           LON-CAPA developer         hallmat3@msu.edu
> 123 North Kedzie Hall                    Michigan State University
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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